I was stationed in Italy almost 20 years ago when a local peace activist asked me to explain the meaning of “hibaku taiken sha” (literally, people who have experienced the atomic bombing in either Hiroshima or Nagasaki) and how that term differs from “hibakusha.”

He wanted to write a song about atomic bomb survivors and sing it at an anti-war rally.

At the time, the Japanese word hibakusha was starting to gain currency among peace activists around the world. The man I met said that he’d just returned from visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki and that he had met hibaku taiken sha in Nagasaki.

I tried my best to explain to him the circumstances in which that unnatural-sounding expression........

© The Asahi Shimbun